Drought Update

Everyone knows that this has been a very dry year, especially in comparison to 2004, which was so very rainy. Last year we received 47.57 inches of rain at DFW Airport; almost 13 inches above normal.

But this year has been a different story. Here at the end of July, we have received only 13.91 inches of rain so far. That is a full 7 inches below the average rainfall of 20.91 inches from January through July. And the dry weather is having noticeable effects. I was walking my dog this week and noticed a number of large cracks in the parched lawns in my neighborhood. And of course, farmers and ranchers are having a much rougher time. In fact, the National Weather Service now describes north Texas as being in an “Extreme Drought”. Here is a link to a map of the Drought Index across the country: http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/

The only good news is that although soils are very dry, the major lakes haven’t yet had any disastrous drop in lake level. That’s because all of the lakes were overflowing last winter after the very wet 2004. That means we have so far avoided major water restrictions. But if we don’t see the rain situation improve soon, the lakes will drop more rapidly, and we could see water rationing become more widespread in the weeks to come. And of course, until we get some significant rains, virtually all of north Texas will remain under outdoor burn bans.